The present invention relates to a tool for removing a cork and cork pieces floating in a narrow neck bottle.
Corks being broken in the neck of a bottle during removal, for example, by a corkscrew, is an extremely common problem. Generally, in this situation, the user pushes the cork and the cork pieces down into the bottle where they remain while the contents of the bottle are emptied.
Although it is possible to pour wine and other beverages from a bottle with a cork floating in it, often cork pieces end up in the beverage. Further, the floating cork can provide an impediment against pouring the beverage from the bottle, frequently leading to spillage. Moreover, for commercial applications, such as restaurants, it is generally not acceptable to serve an expensive bottle of wine with cork pieces floating in the wine.
Attempts have been made to design tools for removing trapped intact corks from bottles, such as those described in Delnero U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,467; Sersen U.S. Pat. No. 983,778; Tyrer U.S. Pat. No. 199,760; and Simpers U.S. Pat. No. 120,830. These tools generally utilize one or more elongated loops, which compress into a size small enough to fit into a bottle neck, expand in the main body of the bottle, and loop around a broken cork for withdrawal through the neck.
Under certain circumstances, these cork pulling devices can be effective, but they also suffer disadvantages. For example, those with a single loop are difficult to center around a floating cork. Simpers and Tyrer use multiple loops, but they are attached together at their ends, which makes them difficult to manipulate around a cork. The Delnero device utilizes a strap, which is rigid and difficult to pull the cork through a narrow neck, the strap creating a significant resistance to the pulling motion. Moreover, none of these devices is effective in removing small pieces of broken cork from a bottle, all being directed to removal of substantially intact corks.
Accordingly, there is a need for a cork extractor that can be used for removing corks and small cork pieces floating in the main body of a narrow neck bottle, where the extractor is easily manipulated and easily used.